Friday, July 06, 2007

Black and White

Sorting through the pictures this morning I came to the conclusion that looking at Istanbul in black and white is useful sometime. Often there is such a riot of activity and colour that it becomes impossible to focus on individual parts of the picture. But in monochrome that is easier. And it often brings interesting aspects of the picture to the fore. People, their expressions, objects in the background. And sometimes you do get the sense of huzun that Pamuk talks about in his books. People, there in the midst of things, yet disconnected.
I uploaded all my black and white pictures from Istanbul here. The pictures are nicer when seen enlarged, I think. And I really need to use Flickr more.
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Cursed is what I am. I am still jinxed in matters of photos it seems. Suffice to say I lost an entire folder of Istanbul pictures. Most of them weren't any good, but some were. And they were the pictures with me in them (only a handful, in the first place). Cursed, I tell you. Anyway I managed to recover a few of them (about 50%) from the USB using some software with an illegally downloaded crack (heh). Some relief.

The nicer pictures are safe and sound, thankfully.
Here, Istanbul in black and white.
TR - hope you like them.
Braving pigeons - Yeni Camii

Standing still - Mısır Carşısı

Streets below - Rustem Paşa Camii

Three musketeers - Istiklal Caddesi

Swimmers - Üsküdar

On board - Tophane

Old man and the sea - Ortaköy

Contemplative - Fatih Camii

Dervish - Galata Mevlevihanesi

16 comments:

That Armchair Philosopher said...

best of the lot - the birds in the square :) i also liked the boat pic..

Tabula Rasa said...

very nice!

really very nice -- but i prefer your color pix. you have a knack for wielding color. i'm wondering why it is that your color pix look better (to me) than your b&w ones, while i prefer my b&w to color.

Aishwarya said...

gorgeous. :)

Szerelem said...

TAP, aishwarya: cok tesekkurler! :)

TR: hmmmm I like my colour pics too. But these ones I felt would look better in black and white.

MISSquoted** said...

You have a seriously impressive eye for potential phtographs.
I am heading to Istanbul in august for a very short while unfortunately[3 nights], after which I will be visiting Egypt for a week. Have you visited Egypt?
I do intend to mail shortly, currently GRE preparation has me in a rather unfortunate state :(

Anonymous said...

One is filled with a green, gooey substance called Envy. And you are to blame.

Vishesh said...

the photos are too good :) lovely :)


u are very good at it ;)

TS said...

What camera is this?

Anonymous said...

great ; ur pix are always interesting ,b/w or col . only sad paart is u are not anywhere .
send some of yours on my mail .
and ,mom was not sad to fund your trip ....dont spread lies .

twip said...

Glorious.

Szerelem said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Szerelem said...

miss**: no I have not ben to Egypt (yet, but soon hopefully inshallah :))...luck with the exams.

vishesh: thanks.

ts: my camera got spoilt you know...so this one was borrowed...nikon coolpic or some such.

mom: I never said you were sad to fund my trip! And i have only maybe five pictures with me in them.

punkster: Thank you :)

Anonymous said...

one word. Lovely.

I so totally envy you!

Renovatio said...

Wowie... really.. been a while since I've visited...been a while since I've visited anyone... sowwy

Anonymous said...

wow.. would have loved to see those in real! Though I have seen some stuff in performances in India.

and yes, you do need to use flickr more often! :)

The Lad said...

How beautiful the pics are..and they all look nice in B/W!